A plane carrying 50 people crashed at an airport in Kazan, a city in Russia. All of the people on board were killed.
The plane, a Boeing 737, had left Moscow and was attempting to make a landing in Kazan when it exploded upon impact at 7:20 p.m.
The Emergencies Ministry announced that 44 people were passengers with 6 crew on the Tatarstan Airlines aircraft.
Investigators will now try to determine if the crashed was caused by crew error or a technical problem.
Vladimir Markin an official with the Investigative committee said that experts had been checking into whether fuel of poor quality and weather conditions played a part in the crash, as it was raining when the aircraft attempted to land.
Amongst those who died was the President of the Republic of Tatarstan’s son Irek Minnikhanov, according to the passenger manifest released.
In addition, Aleksander Antonov, the head of the Federal Security Service in Tatarstan lost his life.
The Foreign Office from the UK confirmed that one of the dead has been a British national. The official statement said that the Office had been in touch with the local authorities and was assisting those affected. Also killed in the crash were two children.
Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia expresses his condolences to the families and friends of the victims. A commission from the government was set up for the investigation of the cause of the accident.
Preliminary reports said that Rustem Salikhov, the pilot, who was 47, had attempted to land on several occasions prior to crashing.
The crew said they were not prepared to land because of some technical problems, reported news agencies across Russia.
One journalist, who flew the same aircraft to Moscow from Kazan earlier the same day, told a television channel in Russia that there had been a strong vibration at the landing in Moscow.
The plane was in service since 1990 said Russian officials. The Kazan airport in the capital of Tatarstan was closed after the accident and is not scheduled to open again until sometime Monday afternoon.
Kazan is about 450 miles east of the Russian capital of Moscow.
